Сочи

[Frans Suasso]

On 9-5-2010 19:19, Paul B. Gallagher wrote:
> Michael Trittipo wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 8 May 2010 18:47:53 -0700 Margarita Orlova
>> <margarita.orlova at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>>> But the name never can be considered declinable, anyway. Except in 
>>> jokes.
>>
>> "The name" meaning this one?  Or "the name" meaning "a name, any
>> name" so that no (geographic) name can ever be declined?
>
> Most native Russian place names conform to standard nominal declension 
> patterns and are treated as such: в Москве (v Moskve), от Киева (ot 
> Kiyeva), etc. Сочи is not obviously masculine, feminine, or neuter, 
> though it could possibly be plural. Hence the discussion.
>
> There is some precedent for treating Georgian names in -i as plurals: 
> Цхинвали, в Цхинвалях (Tskhinvali, v Tskhinvalyakh). However, see the 
> discussion here:
> <http://m-yu-sokolov.livejournal.com/485333.html?thread=26112469>
>
> Foreign place names are often treated as indeclinable, however, even 
> when they might be amenable: Брно, в Брно, not в Брне (Brno, v Brno, 
> not v Brne); however, Прага, в Праге (Praga, v Prage). Foreign names 
> that look masculine or feminine (end in hard consonant or -a) are 
> usually accepted (Лондон/London, Париж/Paris), but names that look 
> neuter or plural are usually rejected, and those that could not 
> possibly be nominative (Перу = Peru) are uniformly indeclinable.
>
>>> So, to be Plural and to be declinable are two different issues for
>>> Russian toponymy.
>>
>> It's interesting how Slavic languages differ.  Czech has a number of 
>> plural toponyms and those names all get declined. But the original Q 
>> was about Russian, not Czech, so I'll stop at my question about the
>> scope of the "the."
>
> Russian does also have plural place names, this is rare but not 
> unheard of. For example, a Moscow suburb (incorporated into the city 
> in the mid-20th century) named Фили (Fili) is treated as a plural (в 
> Филях, v Filyakh). Russian also has a few place names that are 
> declined as adjectives: Северное, в Северном (Severnoye, v Severnom).
>
I googled with the following results:

Сочи    almost 12 million hits
Сочей  47  000  hits
Сочям 723 hits.   (For Сочам there are 17 000 hits, but most do not seem 
to rfefer to the city)
Сочями 140 hits Сочами  11 700 hits,. not all refer to the city
Сочях 8 300 hits and  Сочах 267 000 hits.

Conclusion: ?????

Frans Suasso

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